Interrupter for ignition-dynamos.



H-. R. VAN DEVENTER. INT'RRUPTERIOR IGNITION DYNAMOS.

' 'APPucMloN FILED 001.20. 1914. 1,191,856.,y

11116111111 July 18,. 1916.

Ef E.

Mnden MKM/f States,

vof'Sumter and State ot South Carolina, have movable member carrying asecond UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEieE.

HARRY RANDOLPH VAN DEVENTER, F

SUMTER, lSOUIH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 SPLITDORFELECTRICAL COIJIPANY, OF JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

NEWARK, NEW

INTERRPTER' FOR IGNITION-DYNAMOS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1916.

Application led October 20, 1914. Serial No. 867,563.

, To all whom it may concern:

`Be it known that I, HARRY RANDOLPH VAN DEVENTER, a citizen oi theUnited residing at Sumter, in the county invented certain new and usefulImprovc ments in Interrupters for Ignition-Dynamos, of which the'following is a specification, reference being had to the accompany ingdrawing.

My invention relates to interrupters for magnetos and has Ytor itsobject the production of an interrupter that will be simple and cheap tomanufacture and in which no platinum contacts are necessary.

Another object is to provide an interrupter in which the Contactsurfaces are kept clean and bright by `rictional rubbing.

A. further object is to provide an interrup ter that is quick acting.

Interrupters as employed on ignition generators, or as they are commonlytermed magnetos,7 usually consist of a. fixed contact member having aplatinum tip, and a contact point, the `movable member by suitable meansbeing caused to make and break contact with the fixed men ber at acertain place or places in each revolution of the magneto shaft by whichthe movable element is operatel. Such devices are open to severalobjections, the principal one being that owing to the cost of platinum,the contact points are made relatively small, and a slight amount of oilor dirt prevents them troni making a good Contact, thereby affecting theoperation of the magneto.

` Another objection is thcsparking which takes place owing to the small.area of the contacts, and a further objection is the diiiiculty inmaintaining even contact surfaces on the points and the Jfact thatcare'tul and often difficult adjustment is necessary if the points areremoved for cleaning', etc.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 'l is a iront view i an interruptorembodying my invention. 2, a side view partly7 in section oli sameshowing the circuit connections thereto, the interruptor contacts beingclosed, and Fig. 3, a view partly in sec tion showing the interruptorcontacts open.

Like figures of reference denote the same parts wherever they are shown.

1 denotes the end plate of the interruptor vsuddenly lifted therefrom.

which is usually mounted on the end of the magneto. This plate carries acollector' ring i2, which is insulated from the plate by suitableinsulation 3. The shaft of the magneto .is shown at l and upon thisshaft is suitably mounted an arm 5 carrying a spring arm 5 to which isattached at its outer end, a brush The arm 5 may be readily removed, oradjusted in any radial position in relation to the shaft by any suitablemeans, such as screw '7. A cam 8 is mounted on the end plate arranged toengage a projection 9 carried by the arm 5 so that when '5 rotates overthe cam the brush (3 which is normally in contact with the ring 2, willbe This sudden lifting ot the brush is necessary, and Iconsider same tobe one of the important features of my invention. Of course more thanone cam S may be employed, so as to cause more than one interruption perrevolution. It is essential in a magneto that the interrupter contact besuddenly broken. It will not sullice to have a cut-away portion orinsert of insulation somewhere in the ring .as I have indicated at 10,for at slow speeds the breaking of the circuit would not be abrupt, butwould be gradual as the end ot the brush would gradually slide from ring2| on to the open space or Insulation 10. This would mean a gradualbreak instead of the abrupt break which is essential and which I obtainby my cam arrangement.

It will be observed that the brush 6 is atL all times in rubbing contactwith the ring l except when lifted away by 9 passing over the cam 8.This keeps the contacts bright. Itv will also be observed that the ring2 may be made of any suitable inexpensive metal such as brass, and thebrush G may be of the ordinary woven wiretypc impregnated with graphiteso as to be seltlubricating, and that the brush can be given a largearea so that the resistance et the interruptor will be reduced to a.minimum.

In Fig. 9. the circuits of a magneto are shown, the primary 11 andlcondenser 12 being in multiple with the interruptor contacts. One endof the secondary 13 is connected to the ground or frame of the magneto,while the other end is connected to the usual spark plug indicated at14, It will be understood that the windings 11 and. 413 are thegenerating windings of the magneto.

I have not shown any of the structural details of a magneto as it'isobvious that my improved form of breaker mechanism may be readilyadapted for use in connection with any type of magneto in whichinterrupter mechanism is used.

I claim:

l. In an ignition dynamo,. interruptor mechanism comprising fixed andmovable members in slidable contact, and means operated by said dynamofor separating said members whereby the entire surface of. said movablemember is raised froml said fixed member.-

2. In an ignition dynamo, interruptor mechanism comprising fixed andmovable members in slidable contact, and means operated bysaid dynamolfor causing a break between said members whereby said movable member islifted from sliding Contact with said fixed member.

3. In' an ignition, dynamo, interruptor mechanism'compr'ising fixed andmovable members in slidable contact, and means operated by said dynamo.for causing a break between said members, said means comprising camoperated mechanism whereby the movable member is lifted from slidingcontact with the fixed member.

4.-. In an ignition dynamo, interruptor mechanism comprising members insliding contact, and rotary means operated by said dynamo for suddenlybreaking said contact by lifting one of said members from the other.

5. In an ignition dynamo, interrupter mechanism comprising. a relativelyfixed member, a second member rotating in sliding contact with saidiixed member, and means operated by said dynamo for separating saidmembers Without stopping the rotation of Copies of this patent may beobtained for ve cents each, by addressing the said second member,substantially as described.

6. In an ignition dynamo, interrupter mechanism comprising a contactring, a shaft, an arm on said shaft, a brush on said arm in slidingContact with said ring, and rotary means operated by said dynamo' forsuddenly raising said brush from said ring.

7. Interrupter mechanism comprising a contact ring, a revoluble shaft, abrush carried by said shaft in sliding Contact with said ring, means`whereby said brush is raised from said ring for a portion of eachrevolution of said shaft, and means for radially adjusting said brush inrelation to said shaft.

In an interruptor for ignition dynamos, the combination of a movablemember having a radial path contact carried by said movable member andin contact with said lfixed member for completing a circuit, and meansfor suddenly moving saidcontact at right angles to its radial path oftravel, and out of contact with said fixed member, substantially asdescribed.

9. In an interrupter for ignitionv dynamos, the combination of'a'supporting plate, a collector ring carried thereby but insulatedtherefrom, a rotating contact member in contact with said ring, andmeans for suddenly separating said "rotating contact from said ringwhereby the entire surface of said rotating contact Lleaves said ring atthe same time, during a portion of each revolution of the dynamo,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signaturemthe presence of twowitnesses.

@HARRY RANDOLPH VAN DEYENTER. itnesses:

EDNA ISLER, E. H. RHAME.

"Commissioner of Intenta,

Washington, D. C.

of travel, a lixed contact, a

